VFA - Aggregate Ladders

Victorian Football Association

Aggregate Ladders

Aggregate Ladder -- 1877 to 1896

The table below lists the records of all clubs during this period.

The 13 clubs competing in 1892-1896 played the most games and have been sorted according to the percentage of success achieved.

Other clubs have been sorted according to number of matches played.

Rank	Team	Seasons	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	For	Against	%	Points	% Success
1	South Melbourne	18	320	206	68	46	1515	880	172.16	916	71.56
2	Geelong	20	321	209	71	41	1609	995	161.71	918	71.50
3	Essendon	19	320	177	95	48	1434	994	144.27	804	62.81
4	Fitzroy	13	254	140	84	30	1097	787	139.39	620	61.02
5	Carlton	20	347	179	133	35	1348	1124	119.93	786	56.63
6	Collingwood	5	92	45	40	7	356	370	96.22	194	52.72
7	Port Melbourne	11	218	96	94	28	862	824	104.61	440	50.46
8	Melbourne	20	361	153	160	48	1213	1332	91.07	708	49.03
9	North Melbourne	20	330	112	156	62	994	1199	82.90	572	43.33
10	Williamstown	13	243	81	134	28	781	1048	74.52	380	39.09
11	St Kilda	14	221	68	131	22	781	1088	71.78	316	35.75
12	Footscray	11	194	55	120	19	588	865	67.98	258	33.25
13	Richmond	12	229	61	146	22	774	1288	60.09	288	31.44
14	*University*	4	70	5	60	5	114	332	34.34	30	*10.71*
15	*Ballarat*	8	57	17	30	10	161	203	79.31	88	*38.60*
16	*South Ballarat*	6	43	15	19	9	170	149	114.09	78	*45.35*
17	*Prahran*	2	35	9	21	5	84	157	53.50	46	*32.86*
18	*Ballarat Imperial*	4	34	9	21	4	113	157	71.97	44	*32.35*
19	*South Williamstown*	2	33	9	17	7	88	117	75.21	50	*37.88*
20	*West Melbourne*	3	31	7	17	7	28	68	41.18	42	*33.87*
21	*East Melbourne*	3	29	0	25	4	11	123	8.94	8	*6.90*
22	*Albert Park*	3	28	4	14	10	19	35	54.29	36	*32.14*
23	*Barwon*	2	10	2	3	5	7	12	58.33	18	*45.00*
	Total	233	3820	1659	1659	502	14147	14147		7640

Notes:

1. % Success = Percentage of points achieved from possible points.

2. The 1896 Premiership Play-Off Match between Collingwood and South Melbourne is included.

3. For and Against columns tally goals only.

4. North Melbourne includes Hotham. South Ballarat includes Albion Imperial.

Aggregate Ladder -- 1892 to 1896

Below is a comparison of the records of the thirteen clubs over the five seasons leading up to the formation of the Victorian Football League (VFL).

This period commences with Collingwood's admission to the VFA and includes most of Essendon's golden period of four consecutive premierships in 1891-1894.

The final two seasons of this period saw emerging powers Fitzroy (1895) and Collingwood (1896) win their first premierships.

It is interesting to note that if performance over the previous five seasons had been the sole criteria for judging admission to new body then Port Melbourne and Footscray would have been admitted instead of Carlton and St Kilda.

Rank	Team	Seasons	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	For	Against	%	Points	% Success
1	Essendon	5	93	71	14	8	639	332	192.47	300	80.65
2	Melbourne	5	93	64	24	5	539	357	150.98	266	71.51
3	Fitzroy	5	96	60	25	11	487	313	155.59	262	68.23
4	South Melbourne	5	96	56	27	13	499	386	129.27	250	65.10
5	Geelong	5	92	52	31	9	533	390	136.67	226	61.41
6	Collingwood	5	91	44	40	7	350	365	95.89	190	52.20
7	Port Melbourne	5	94	38	45	11	363	389	93.32	174	46.28
8	Footscray	5	94	35	50	9	357	435	82.07	158	42.02
9	North Melbourne	5	94	30	54	10	330	452	73.01	140	37.23
10	St Kilda	5	92	28	57	7	360	485	74.23	126	34.24
11	Williamstown	5	92	25	56	11	340	483	70.39	122	33.15
12	Carlton	5	94	25	63	6	310	481	64.45	112	29.79
13	Richmond	5	93	21	63	9	379	618	61.33	102	27.42
	Total	65	1214	549	549	116	5486	5486		2428

Notes:

1. % Success = Percentage of points achieved from possible points.

2. The 1896 Premiership Play-Off Match between Collingwood and South Melbourne is not included.

3. For and Against columns tally goals only.

Aggregate Ladder -- 1897 to 1907

The table below compares the records of clubs over the eleven seasons from the formation of the VFL up to Richmond leaving the VFA to join the VFL in 1908.

The five clubs remaining with the VFA after 1896 remained closely competitive for the next decade.

Port Melbourne won flags in 1897 and 1901, either side of a hat-trick by Footscray (1898-1900). Richmond (1902 and 1905) and North Melbourne (1903 and 1904) shared the next four premierships. Williamstown enjoyed their first premiership success in 1907.

West Melbourne was the only other club to enjoy success during this period winning the 1906 premiership. It lost the 1907 Grand Final to Williamstown, then amalgamated with North Melbourne at the end of the 1907 season as part of an unsuccessful bid to join the VFL.

Rank	Club	Seasons	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	For	Against	%	Points	% Success
1	Footscray	11	196	131	63	2	6886	10358	66.5	528	67.35
2	North Melbourne	11	196	129	64	3	4681	6995	66.9	522	66.58
3	Richmond	11	196	128	66	2	8998	6318	142.4	516	65.82
4	Port Melbourne	11	196	122	74	0	8988	7071	127.1	488	62.24
5	Williamstown	11	194	115	76	3	8573	7337	116.8	466	60.05
6	West Melbourne	9	159	72	86	1	6108	8152	74.9	290	45.60
7	Prahran	9	159	50	109	0	2905	5586	52.0	200	31.45
8	Brunswick	11	194	56	138	0	9776	7124	137.2	224	28.87
9	Essendon Tn./Assoc.	8	138	37	100	1	6627	6419	103.2	154	27.90
10	Preston	5	90	13	77	0	8424	6606	127.5	52	14.44
	Total	97	1718	853	853	12	71966	71966		3440

Notes:

1. % Success = Percentage of points achieved from possible points.

2. Finals matches not included.

Aggregate Ladder -- 1908 to 1915

The table below compares the teams during the eight seasons prior to the break for the First World War.

Ten teams competed in each season, and nine of these teams played in all eight seasons.

The top four teams in the rankings won premierships during this period:

Footscray (1908, 1913), Brunswick (1909), North Melbourne (1910, 1914, 1915), and Essendon Association (1911, 1912).

Rank	Club	Seasons	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	For	Against	%	Points	% Success
1	Essendon Association	8	139	98	39	2	9399	6415	146.5	396	71.22
2	Footscray	8	139	94	44	1	8959	6339	141.3	378	67.99
3	North Melbourne	8	139	93	44	2	8780	7071	124.2	376	67.63
4	Brunswick	8	139	91	46	2	9094	7002	129.9	368	66.19
5	Prahran	8	139	82	53	4	8797	7225	121.8	336	60.43
6	Williamstown	8	139	75	64	0	7828	6940	112.8	300	53.96
7	Port Melbourne	8	139	59	79	1	7344	8218	89.4	238	42.81
8	Brighton	8	139	52	86	1	7257	8385	86.5	210	37.77
9	Northcote	8	139	28	108	3	6445	10188	63.3	118	21.22
10	Preston	4	72	10	61	1	2879	6062	47.5	42	14.58
11	Hawthorn	2	31	4	26	1	1824	2785	65.5	18	14.52
12	Melbourne City	2	36	0	36	0	1442	3418	42.2	0	0.00
	Total	80	1390	686	686	18	80048	80048		2780

Notes:

1. % Success = Percentage of points achieved from possible points.

2. Finals matches not included.

Aggregate Ladder -- 1918 to 1924

The ladder below covers the period from the recommencement in 1918 until the final season of Footscray, North Melbourne and Hawthorn before they joined the VFL.

Footscray was far and away the outstanding team of this period winning four premierships and finishing runners-up twice. They also finished top of the ladder five seasons consecutively from 1920 to 1924.

Prior to this, North Melbourne had their own outstanding period, winning three consecutive premierships from (1914, 1915, 1918) with a 49 match unbeaten run that only ended when they lost the Second Semi-Final to Footscray in 1919.

While Prahran was Hawthorn's main contestant for the third VFL place, it was actually Brunswick who statistically had the third best win record over the previous seven VFA seasons.

However, Brunswick did not win a premiership during 1918-1924 (although they did in 1925), while Williamstown (1921) and Port Melbourne (1922) both won flags.

Rank	Club	Seasons	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	For	Against	%	Points	% Success
1	Footscray	7	114	96	20	2	8970	5831	153.8	388	85.09
2	North Melbourne	7	106	77	30	1	7425	5475	135.6	310	73.11
3	Brunswick	7	112	74	41	3	8106	6655	121.8	302	67.41
4	Port Melbourne	7	116	75	42	1	8354	6921	120.7	302	65.09
5	Williamstown	6	106	63	44	1	6747	5894	114.5	254	59.91
6	Hawthorn	6	106	53	54	1	6990	7121	98.2	214	50.47
7	Northcote	7	114	55	61	2	7411	7477	99.1	224	49.12
8	Prahran	7	114	28	88	2	6020	9567	62.9	116	25.44
9	Essendon Association	3	54	13	41	0	2789	3627	76.9	52	24.07
10	Brighton	6	106	21	86	1	5839	8258	70.7	86	20.28
11	Geelong Association	3	54	8	46	0	2720	4545	59.8	32	14.81
	Total	66	1102	563	553	14	71371	71371		2280

Notes:

1. % Success = Percentage of points achieved from possible points.

2. Finals matches not included.

3. Games Won column includes 10 games forfeited by North Melbourne to other teams after resigning mid-season in 1921.

The corresponding forfeit losses have not been tallied against North Melbourne as they had left the Association from this time, until rejoining for the 1922 season.

About this document

Prepared and maintained by Andrew Robinson

Author: Andrew Robinson (contact: andrew at elitetograssroots dot net)
First created: 2 October 2011
Last updated: 19 May 2022

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